OPERATION WINDMILL JUNE 2009

CLICK HERE FOR MORE JUNE 2009 PICS

June 6th, 2009, Camp Stasa. Mostly sunny, temps ranging from around 70 up into the mid 80's. High humidity. Very slight breeze. Billions of bugs, the biting kind.

We were expecting a film crew from Veronica TV in Holland. Not Holland, Michigan, but the original Holland, in Europe. (Be careful with that link, which previews the upcoming season of Fobiac TV. Some of the segments being previewed are not for minors.) The Veronica TV website is in Dutch, and the voice over and text are all in Dutch. Unless you are fluent in Dutch, you will not grasp this.

We started out with a quick gear check, and some of the guys headed out on their walk. The rest of us began to gear up for a tactical movement through the woods. The guys on the march came in well under the allotted time. We broke down into two fire teams and headed out, to work on movement, hand and arm signals and camouflage. There was some minor confusion, but nothing compared to what would come later. Some wore face paint, some wore other camouflage, but everyone blended in fairly well. We moved to the back, and formed a perimeter. After some discussion about a return plan, we moved toward the front, and prepared to assault a position. The terrain, most notably the thick brambles and wet swampy areas, hindered what should have been a simple fire and maneuver. Despite this, the objective was secured.

But that was not fun enough. While a few were working on qualifying, the squad donned their protective masks and headed back out. Now, we encountered some issues. It was hard to tell exactly who was whom with the masks on. Vision was restricted, no matter what kind of mask. It was hard to breathe, and it was hot. 

Now, with limited vision, and the fact that not everyone was thoroughly familiar with each other's gear and outfits and such, we ran into a bit of a snag. (You know, there are those who object when we post problems that we have encountered, as if it needlessly announces certain weaknesses. Well, true, it does. But we do so in order to demonstrate how to avoid these weaknesses, both for ourselves and other units. It's a trade-off, but one we think is too valuable to avoid.)

Because the teams were bounding in thick brush, and thus passing relatively close to each other, a couple of members of one fire team inadvertently attached themselves to the other team instead. To compensate for this, the squad leader fell in with the first team. The teams remained relatively balanced, but there was some confusion. We will work on this, just like you should. The same thing could happen at night.

Several of us shot with our masks on. This is a good thing to familiarize yourself with.

Shooting with masks on.

Our Dutch friends showed up and we went through some interviews, chatting, and gear introduction. Lauren seemed to adapt to her gear naturally. We issued her an AK, briefed her on her gear, especially the rifle and gas mask, and proceeded to head out for our third movement exercise of the day, which was to extract our permanent victim, Meagan, from the woods before a suspected pending chemical attack.

We did an extensive after-action review, including practicing various ways to carry an evacuee using this stretcher, or improvised carrying techniques. We also spent some time talking with Lauren about the need to be part of a prepared militia group, and readiness in general. Having guns and gear is like having a spare tire or a fire extinguisher; you hope you never have to use them, but you better have them if you need to.

We then let our Dutch friends try their hands at shooting a few weapons. Hatter let her shoot a pistol and his AK, whilst 13 year-old Meagan let Lauren shoot her 20 gage Rossi. 

This is where they conspired for me to buy Meagan a .223 for Christmas.....

Mad Hatter teaching Lauren the finer points of his AK.

Lauren truly seemed to enjoy shooting, as did the rest of the film crew. This shows a huge difference between The United States and other countries. We can just buy a rifle, and go out somewhere and shoot. Not enough Americans do that, and we should appreciate this. 

And they found it amazing that a thirteen year old American girl was out at the range, with her own shotgun. That's the kind of thing that re-enforces how proud we should be to be Americans.

The following day, LFB led the crew in a morning stand-to type drill, where they had to grab their guns and gear and secure the CP. This sounds like it was a fun time.

Mad Hatter and D-Day, on thing One and Thing Two.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE JUNE 2009 PICS